From: "ishius holonet net" ISHIUS COM> Date: 11 oct 1994 Subject: Re: Chess and Shogi >but I don't see that handicaps are "designed to teach specific lessons >about the game", but rather to give the weaker player a better chance >of pulling off an upset victory. The handicaps create weaknesses around white's bishop pawn, the idea being that it makes it easier for black to overconcentrate on those points and make a favorable exchange there, probably promoting a piece in the process. Well, that's the main offensive idea generally: find or create a weakness in the enemy's territory and exploit it. With a handicap, the weakness is built in, and there are parallel ideas and approaches in even games. Now, as maybe a 8-kyu in Shogi, I have not much authority here, but this is what I understand from Larry Kaufmann, a master of both Chess and Shogi. >> 3) Most professional chess games end in draws. > > That depends what you mean by "most". Well, choose any World Championship, and at least half the games are draws (or almost always so). Although lower levels may not see as many draws, it's not for lack of trying (just lack of success); playing for a draw is a common defensive strategy at the club level. Also, the World Championships are supposed to be inspiring to players; I do not find draws inspiring. > >If you work hard on a game for a few hours but are unable to win, >in Shogi you have nothing to show for your efforts, while in chess >you at least have a chance to muster half a point. Having been one >tempo away from victory is not much consolation if you have a zero >in the tournament table. Well, as a salesman, almost all my customers do not play in tournaments, but play only for enjoyment. In that case, if one is going to lose a game, it is far better to feel one had a chance. It is certainly not very much fun for the average game player to work for a draw, even though that might be a more desirable result in a tournament. >I think that opening preparation is a bit overemphasized. I agree. In particular, it is over emphasized by club and tournament players. > Despite all of the above, having played chess all my life and Shogi >only in the past year or two, I tend to prefer the latter game, and think >that it would be more popular in the US if it were properly marketed. Well, this year Ishi Press is pushing a nice shogi set with very nice plastic pieces (calligraphy deeply cut in, well inked, pieces clink like glass, not plastic) and a vinyl board (manufactured by the same people who do the U.S.C.F. chess mats) in a tube with a full color shogi samurai, which should retail in stores for $29.95. It is also available with international style pieces, which are useful for teaching. >Unfortunately in the USA there are not enough opponents to play with, >especially in smaller and medium-sized cities, and no events in which >one can win class prizes (as with chess), which reward one for improving >repidly. On the other hand, it doesn't cost very much to enter a Shogi >tournament and get a rating. Well, I can tell you it's hard to organize a chogi club. I've tried twice in the Bay Area with no success, and that was with backing from a game store (they provided space, publicity, sets, etc.). There are active shogi clubs in New York, Chicago, Washington DC and Los Angeles, and not much elsewhere that I know of (oh yeah, one just started in Central Ohio). Is there a SHOGI SERVER, and if so what can be done to promote it. Anton Dovydaitis